Part 60 (1/2)
Coutlass took no notice of the threat, but rocked the canoe recklessly as he stood on tiptoe
”Think of their gall! By Bacchus, they're stea for British East!
I bet you five million pounds to a kick they think they've drowned the lot of us! They're going to steaot hi the paddlers nearest hi would stop his evil croaking any loated over lessened our real conviction
Long before we reached the dhow there was no room left for unbelief
The stern planks were charred, but stood erect, unburned yet, and the blue and white paint smeared on them was surely that of the Queen of Sheba When we came within fifty yards the water was full of loathsome reptiles; our paddles actually struck the at one another and at our canoes--long, sli monsters, as able to smell carrion in the distance as kites are to see
There were gar that certainly had been a woht around that We tried to go close enough to see whether there were dead bodies in the dhow's charred hull, but as if the very ripple from our paddles were the last straw, the wreck dipped suddenly ten feet fro it down into deep water with lashi+ng tails--swifter than fish
We paddled about for an hour in the blistering sun, searching stupidly for e knee could never find; crocodiles remove traces of identity more swiftly than kites and crows
”I'll bet you they thought ere on board!” gleed Coutlass ”I'll bet you they opened fire, and e didn't answer came to the conclusion we had no ah to throw kerosene on board and light it! I bet you they steamed round and round and watched the people jump as the flames drove them overboard!
Or d'you think they shot them all, and then threw them overboard and fired the dhow? No--then they'd have knoeren't on the dhow; they'd have steaht ere in the dhow! They thought ere hiding below deck! They're going to British East to take their Bible oaths they saw us burn and drown!
Isn't that a joke! Isn't that a good one! Gassharaive my hope of heaven to knohether they shot the wo the crocodiles when the heat grew fierce!”
We paddled to another rocky island--one that had trees on it, and rested through the heat of the day e had killed all the snakes that had forestalled us in the shade There, after again eating hippo-tongue unseasoned and ungarnished, we held a council of war, and Fred produced the map that Rebecca stole from Coutlass
”If we make for a townshi+p now--Kisumu is the nearest--about five and twenty ive ourselves the pleasure of surprising Schillingschen, and of course we can get a square meal and some clothes and soap and so on--incidentally perhaps soainst Schillingschen, and he has enough pull with British officials to s deuced unpleasant for us, for a time at least Consider the other side of it Suppose we don't schen reports us dead nobody looks for us--unless perhaps out on the lake for a hat or so by way of corroborative evidence Suppose we paddle out of this gulf and take to shore so the north end of the lake
We've no food, no tents, only one gun, next to no a but etting supplies, and particularly rifles, without letting any one knohere we are, but we do knoe've a clear field and a straight on, where ruschen thinks--and this ainst us--clies--last and not least, the govern beyond bounds Are illing to take the chance, or are we not?”
We talked it over for an hour, Coutlass listening all ears to h we drove him to the farthest limit of the shade trees We were in two minds whether or not it mattered if he listened, and made the usual two- Brown have a voice with the rest of us He was in favor of anything that offered prospect of a gaiven the missionary to mail to Monty We had told hion, and we all voted the sarinned Fred, ”we're perfect idiots, and ready and willing to prove it! Good! If you fellows had voted the other way I'd have gone forward to Elgon alone!”
It was then that Georges Coutlass took a hand in the ga of his old swagger, and sat down a us with an air
”Count ested Fred
”In on the trip to Mount Elgon!”
”We've had nearly enough of you!” Fred answered ”I knohat's co! If you don't come with us you'll tell tales? Blackmail, eh?
Well, it won't work! We'll set you ashore on the schen or any British official, we'll run that risk cheerfully!”
But Coutlass was imperturbable for once He laid a hand on Fred's knee, and changed his tone to one of gentle persuasion between friend and friend
”Ah! Mr Oakes, I know you now too well! You are not the man to leave me in the lurch! These others perhaps! You never! You know me, too
You have seen e my character You kno fire an enemy! You knoould never be false to a friend such as you--to a man whom I admire as I do you!”
Will Yerkes, who had tried to keep a straight face, noent off into peals of laughter, rolling over on his back and rocking his legs in the air--a perfore Coutlass in the least Broas far fro the Greek into the lake
”Rereed Coutlass ”Remember those cattle! Consider what a e I auide! What a fighting man! What a hunter! What a liar on behalf of er for my friends' enemies!